Rabastan sniffled again, wiping his eyes and staring down at the cookie in his hands instead of at Harry.

"Sirius was strong in ways that some of aren't and never will be. Not all wands have the same core. Sirius was strong enough to lose so much, but he had things to replace it on the outside. Some of us don't. To some of us, the outside is a huge and frightening place that we don't understand."

Bast continued to stare down at lap, sneaking a hand over to snare up a paper napkin to wipe his face.

"Severus didn't let many people know him. He was a broken man in a lot of ways, I think, like me. Or maybe a few. I don't know. I would have liked to."

Bast paused there, twisting the tissue through his hands.